


Breaking Past the Wall

by Tinybit92



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Cute, F/M, Fluff, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-10
Updated: 2012-04-10
Packaged: 2017-11-03 10:24:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/380355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinybit92/pseuds/Tinybit92
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Lalonde has a wall up against her emotions. She never truly laughs or smiles. This will have to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking Past the Wall

**Author's Note:**

> There are not nearly enough stories for these two. Left intentionally vague about when and where this is, so that no matter what Hussie does in the future, this could be placed somewhere into canon.

Your name is John Egbert and you are currently sitting next to your good friend Rose Lalonde. You are telling her a funny story, and as she gives out a light chuckle accompanied be her typically reserved smile, you notice once more something that has been bothering you. Rose never laughs or smiles.  
  
Now you obviously don’t mean this in a truly literal sense, because, as you’ve just observed, she does in fact do both of those things. You mean something a bit more nuanced. When she laughs, it is quiet and gentle. When she smiles, it is always small, the lightest curve of her lips. Often it is only half a smile.  
  
You have always been the type of person to wear your emotions on your sleeve. When you are happy, you have a huge grin and laugh loudly. When you are sad, you are unafraid to cry and allow your pain to be clearly visible in your expression. When you are angry, you yell and glare.  
  
It is because of this that you have such a hard time understanding why Rose is so reserved. What is the point of withholding your emotions? And why is Rose so constantly intent on doing so? Since noticing this quality, you have made it your mission to see a real smile from your emotionally stunted friend. This mission however has not been very successful. This girl will not let her mask slip for even a moment.  
  
“Bluh,” You say as you end your tale. “It was just so stupid.”  
  
“You say that as if we all haven’t done some immensely stupid things.” Rose has that condescending sort of smirk on her face as she says this. It never offends you though.  
  
“Heh, yeah. You are definitely right on that. Karkat alone could probably write a book on stupid things he’s done.” You both laugh at the expense of your troll friend.  
  
“I’d say Dave could likely do the same, though he’d never admit it.”  
  
“Oh, no. Cool kids never admit to their faults. It’s a rule. If you do something dumb you somehow make it seem like it was totally on purpose and actually the smartest thing ever.”  
  
“Well, if that’s the case then Mr. Strider is clearly not as cool as he’d like to believe. I have seen him do many a brainless thing, and never once has he been able to convince me that it was intentional or intelligent.”  
  
“That’s because you’re too good at psychoanalyzing people to get fooled. You go all psychiatrist on everybody and then nothing is out of your sight.”  
  
Rose laughs her quiet laugh. “I think you’re overselling my abilities a bit, John.”  
  
“No way. I think that’s why you’re so quiet all the time too. You’ve got everybody else’s emotions figured out and you don’t want them to be able to see yours.”  
  
“Maybe I’m just not a very emotional person.”  
  
“Lies. You’re just all repressed.”  
  
“I thought you said I was the psychiatric master here. You seem to be attempting to analyze every facet of my personality as if you were a graduated student of the field.”  
  
“Ah, yes, I am doctor Egbert. Please, Rose, lay down on my weird curvy couch thing and tell me about all your problems.” You stroke your chin, pretending you have a beard there.  
  
She gives you a wry sort of half smile. You poke her playfully in the side of her stomach.  
  
Rose reacts to this simple form of contact with a surprised yelp that appears to shock you both.  
  
For several long moments you both freeze. You stare at her as her face turns red, the shade only becoming more intense when she glances at your face. Rose quickly tries to regain her composure, but it’s too late.  
  
A look of dawning realization comes to your face and rapidly turns to a grin.  
  
“Rose?”  
  
“Hm?” She is trying very hard to act as though nothing happened.  
  
“You wouldn’t happen to be ticklish, would you?”  
  
“Of course not!” She straightens up, attempting to look indignant. “Why would you ever- Ah!” She falls backwards in her effort to escape from your next poke.  
  
“John, no. Stop. You are invading my personal space and- Eep!”  
  
“Eep” is not a sound you ever thought you would hear from Rose Lalonde. That in and of itself makes this whole thing worthwhile. But as you pin her where she fell and begin tickling your fingers lightly along her sides, you are rewarded with so much more.  
  
For the first time since you’ve known her, a wide grin breaks out on Rose’s face, and she bursts out in real, uncontrolled laughter. It’s musical, and makes you smile even wider.  
  
“Jo-hahaha-J-John, stop!” She tries to push your hands away, but she’s laughing too hard for there to be any strength behind it.  
  
“As if. I’ve discovered your weakness, Rose.” You start tickling faster and she shrieks out another stream of laughter. You are convinced you have never heard a sound so wonderful.  
  
Soon you see tears forming at the corners of her eyes from laughing so hard.  
  
“Joh-ha-ohn! Plea-he-he-hease, hurts!”  
  
“Aw, darn.” You figure that if her sides are hurting from laughter, you’ve probably tortured her long enough. You stop the movements of your hands and stare down at Rose as she tries to catch her breath.  
  
Still breathing rapidly, she tries to look angry, but simply can not remove the smile from her face. “That was entirely unnecessary.”  
  
“I beg to differ. You are smiling, a real smile, for the first time in ever. That was absolutely required.” You grin down at her, and she breathes a soft laugh at your enthusiasm. You decide that her smile makes her eyes more vibrant.  
  
However, it is only a few minutes after this that the two of you simultaneously notice the position you are in. You have Rose pinned to the floor, a hand on the ground next to either side of her head, with your faces a mere six inches apart. You realize you can feel her breath against your skin, and the same is probably true for her. You both turn a bright shade of red before you leap away from her and resume your sitting position from earlier.  
  
She clears her throat quietly in embarrassment and sits down again as well. You can’t help but notice that she seems to be sitting a little closer to you than she was before. You glance at her before looking away with a smile. No matter what she does to get you back for this later, you don’t care. That was completely worth it. The image of her smile and the sound of her laughter are things you will treasure until the day you die.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, it's my personal headcanon that Rose is secretly very ticklish and John will find out eventually. I just really needed to write it out.


End file.
